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Volume CXXXII, Number 17 |
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Costs of living off campus
TIMOTHY J. RIEMER
COLUMNIST
Have you ever heard about those people at Bowdoin who live in those really nice houses down in Harpswell or some other place along the coast? And have you ever wondered what it would be like to live in one of these places and what it would cost to do so. Maybe you've heard about some of the off-campus apartments near the College where students live and have thought that they would be a great place to live but are worried that they are too expensive. Or maybe you are a student who lives off campus and wonder how your costs compare to campus or other places in the area. This article will hopefully enlighten you with the pros, cons and costs of living off campus.
I gathered research from different off campus houses that students live in this year and hopefully this information will give a good idea off what it is like to live off campus. The average rent of the sample I collected is about three hundred dollars per month per person. However rent costs range from as low as two hundred dollars per person per month to as high as four hundred seventy-five, but including all utilities.
Conveniently, this brings me to the next cost in living off-campus, utilities. Utilities include electricity, heating, water, and telephone. The average person will pay about twenty dollars per month for electricity, however this can be as low as twelve dollars per month.
Heating is a little more difficult to explain because of the different options and the fact that it is not paid for on a regular basis. Most houses in the area rely on oil or gas heat. Apartments in the area, on the other hand, rely on electricity for heat, which is usually included in the rent. Oil and gas are only paid for when you fill your tanks. Right now, oil costs about one dollar and forty-cents per gallon. Natural gas costs about six dollars per million BTU's.
This means that it will cost somewhere around two hundred eighty dollars plus service charge (varies depending on company) to fill a two hundred gallon tank. The average gas tank costs about two hundred fifty dollars per fill up. An oil or gas tank will have to be filled up about every month and a half or so depending on the weather. A household may not need to fill their tank until winter break, but during the dead of winter fuel tanks can run dry as fast as two weeks.
Furthermore, most people must leave their oil tanks filled at the end of their lease. Unfortunately this requires that the oil or gas tank to be filled at the end of May once again.
Some people, instead of or in addition to using oil or gas heat also burn firewood in wood burning stoves to help heat their homes. Firewood, if bought at the beginning of the school year, costs about 140 per cord. A home where firewood is used as the primary source of heat, the cost per person for firewood is about one hundred twenty five dollars for the entire year. For those who like to use firewood for aesthetic purposes or in addition to oil or gas heat, the average cost per person for firewood is on average sixty-five dollars.
Almost all the houses in the area make use of well water so there is no water bill, however for those that live in apartments and live in houses close to campus the water bill is included in the rent.
The phone bill for local phone access is about thirty dollars per month for a household. This includes only local services and no features. This is how much it would cost for the capabilities you have on campus but without voicemail.
Taking all these various costs into account, the average person will pay about three thousand six hundred dollars to live off campus for the entire year. The cost of living on campus is thirty-five hundred dollars per year. This alone makes living off campus more expensive than living on campus. The figure of thirty-six hundred dollars does not include the cost of driving to campus. The average person spends anywhere from fifteen to twenty-five dollars each week and a half to two weeks to fill up their vehicles with today's gas prices. The variance in cost of gas is due to the distance from campus, the frequency of carpooling, and the type of car. On average, though, this drives the cost of living off campus much higher to just about $4000 dollars.
Obviously living off campus is more expensive than living on campus but this does not mean that living off campus isn't worth it. There are many advantages to living off campus that somebody living on campus would never enjoy.
First, the houses that students rent are beautiful summer homes that owners rent out during the winter to make a little money. This means that most of them are right on the water, or even an island if they're lucky. Second, having a house means that you have much more space than any accommodation on campus. The rooms that people have are almost always singles and are larger than any single on campus. Third, all the houses have full kitchens and are often fully equipped unlike any on campus housing. Fourth, you are not limited by the restrictions of Bowdoin Security. On weekend nights you do not have to worry about security busting in on your party and bringing the festivities to a grinding halt. You could even enjoy a cigarette or two in your residence if you happen to be a smoker.
Finally, at the more remote off-campus locations you have much easier, if that is possible, access to the outdoors. At my house in Georgetown (just beyond Bath), I can step outside my door and go fishing, duck hunting, boating, snow shoeing, snow mobiling, cross country skiing, and even swimming, if I want.
It may cost more to live on campus, but if you can afford the premium, the benefits of living off campus far outweigh the cost. If you don't believe this, just ask B. Roy Young.
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